Being that this game is based on a movie franchise, my heart always has nostalgia for the Jurassic Park dinosaurs. I was wondering though, what would you the community consider the most paleo accurate representations of species in the game. The newest DLC coming November 30th has three species I would put on that list. What is your list of current ingame animals that would make an amazing paleo accurate park?
The most paleo accurate species in the game
- Thread starter Paleoguy
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The selection you've made does indeed show some of the best designs in terms of accuracy. Though some of them still have some minor or medium issues if you wanna consider them accurate.
The most accurate in the game, might just be Sinosauropteryx. Not just because of the accurate feathering. But also the accurate colouring. And honestly, Utahraptor might be up there. But it's hard to tell since we haven't really seen it in action yet. But it seems like the feathering on the hands might be correct. Which is a problem many of the other designs still get wrong. Gigantoraptor and Oviraptor still have the problem that their hands are entirely bald. So they don't have correct primary feathers. Don't get me wrong, besides that, they're still really accurate for the most part.
The Concavenator looks really quite accurate. We'll have to see how big it is in the game, since the actual animal is really not that big. There's no evidence of quills on the back of the neck. And it's hard to tell how the arms would have looked. There are bumps on the ulna. Those might be quillknobs. In which case, they could be quills like shown here. Or perhaps it might have had more feathering than that. It's hard to tell. What's a really nice touch, is the wide scute like scales on the bottom of the neck. This is something we know Concavenator has on the bottom of it's tail. And we know Allosaurus also has these on the bottom of its neck. So it seems reasonable to put them on the neck of Conca here as well.
Yutyrannus is genuinely a great design in terms of accuracy. It's hard to tell what the arms would have looked like. Since it doesn't have proper wings like dromaeosaurs or oviraptorosaurs have, I'm not sure if it's accurate to still show them bald like shown here. But it's definitely less of a problem because of the sparse feathering on the arms.
Deinocheirus is also really good. But, it might actually be too heavily feathered. It's a very large bulky animal that might have had trouble cooling down if it was so heavily feathered. so perhaps a lighter coat of feathers might be better. But overall, really good.
Jeholopterus is very good in terms of accuracy. But it's a bit more speculative. We know pterosaurs were fuzzy. But we don't know if they had fuzzy display structures like shown here.
Lystrosaurus isn't entirely accurate. It's a nice design. But they've made changes to the skull shape.
Archelon, Kronosaurus and Shonisaurus are all really good as far as I know. Although it's quite likely that Shonisaurus would have had a dorsal fin.
Dunkelosteus looks great. And I love how it doesn't look like an ugly monster, but an actual animal. The face looks really quite accurate. But it has one big problem. It's much too long. A recent paper showed that the classic style of Dunk reconstructions most likely are not correct. So it would have roughly been 2/3s of the length it is here.
Minmi and Wuerhosaurus I wouldn't consider that accurate. They're cool designs. But both of them have stylistic choices that don't really fit the animal if it's just accuracy we're after.
Australovenator also, I wouldn't put here on this list. The skull has some odd stylistic choices that aren't accurate and the hand claws are much too small. Megaraptid hand claws are massive. And a mistake that many paleoartist also make is that they just look at the bony claws. When in life, the keratin would have extended the length considerably. Around 30% more length in some cases.
Styxosaurus is cool. But it's VERY speculative. It's not impossible that it might have display structures like that. But I dunno how likely that would be.
The feathered T. rex is really cool. And it seems likely that it would have had some slight fuzziness to it. Funnily enough, the feathers shown here are probably at like the upper end of what would be plausible for T. rex. Other than that, it's still the JP T. rex underneath. Which is a fantastic design. Mostly fairly accurate. But with some obvious stylistic choices. And, it should probably have lips to cover the teeth.
Quetzalcoatlus is rather good. But it's much, too big and some of the proportions are off.
Coelophysis is pretty good. But the real animal would probably have been feathered a bit. Other fairly basal theropods like Dilophosaurus hve been found to most likely have a fair bit of feather covering. So it seems unlikely that Coelophysis would have been entirely bald.
Speaking of Dilophosaurus, Cryolophosaurus is a close relative of it. And it would also likely have had some feathering.
Suchomimus is definitely the most accurate spinosaurid in the game. It's quite good too. There's some minor proportional issues. And the skull still seems to follow the old reconstruction. The real skull would have been a little more robust in the back. For spinosaurids it's not entirely clear if they would have feathers. We know of fairly extensive scales in Allosauroids and Abelisaurids. So it's not unreasonable that spinosaurids might have been mostly, or entirely scaly. Like other theropods tho, it would likely have had lips to cover the teeth. And the hand claws are also too small.
Overall, this is a really good selection with a bunch of designs that are really accurate. There's some other designs that are quite good as well. Some that spring to mind are: Albertosaurus, Attenborosaurus, Geosternbergia, Ceratosaurus, JP3 Brachiosaurus, Frontier Giganotosaurus, Frontier Iguanodon, Euoplocephalus, Dsungaripterus, Corythosaurus, JWD Parasaurolophus
Some of them have minor proportional issues or lack feathers when they should. But overall they're quite accurate.
The most accurate in the game, might just be Sinosauropteryx. Not just because of the accurate feathering. But also the accurate colouring. And honestly, Utahraptor might be up there. But it's hard to tell since we haven't really seen it in action yet. But it seems like the feathering on the hands might be correct. Which is a problem many of the other designs still get wrong. Gigantoraptor and Oviraptor still have the problem that their hands are entirely bald. So they don't have correct primary feathers. Don't get me wrong, besides that, they're still really accurate for the most part.
The Concavenator looks really quite accurate. We'll have to see how big it is in the game, since the actual animal is really not that big. There's no evidence of quills on the back of the neck. And it's hard to tell how the arms would have looked. There are bumps on the ulna. Those might be quillknobs. In which case, they could be quills like shown here. Or perhaps it might have had more feathering than that. It's hard to tell. What's a really nice touch, is the wide scute like scales on the bottom of the neck. This is something we know Concavenator has on the bottom of it's tail. And we know Allosaurus also has these on the bottom of its neck. So it seems reasonable to put them on the neck of Conca here as well.
Yutyrannus is genuinely a great design in terms of accuracy. It's hard to tell what the arms would have looked like. Since it doesn't have proper wings like dromaeosaurs or oviraptorosaurs have, I'm not sure if it's accurate to still show them bald like shown here. But it's definitely less of a problem because of the sparse feathering on the arms.
Deinocheirus is also really good. But, it might actually be too heavily feathered. It's a very large bulky animal that might have had trouble cooling down if it was so heavily feathered. so perhaps a lighter coat of feathers might be better. But overall, really good.
Jeholopterus is very good in terms of accuracy. But it's a bit more speculative. We know pterosaurs were fuzzy. But we don't know if they had fuzzy display structures like shown here.
Lystrosaurus isn't entirely accurate. It's a nice design. But they've made changes to the skull shape.
Archelon, Kronosaurus and Shonisaurus are all really good as far as I know. Although it's quite likely that Shonisaurus would have had a dorsal fin.
Dunkelosteus looks great. And I love how it doesn't look like an ugly monster, but an actual animal. The face looks really quite accurate. But it has one big problem. It's much too long. A recent paper showed that the classic style of Dunk reconstructions most likely are not correct. So it would have roughly been 2/3s of the length it is here.
Minmi and Wuerhosaurus I wouldn't consider that accurate. They're cool designs. But both of them have stylistic choices that don't really fit the animal if it's just accuracy we're after.
Australovenator also, I wouldn't put here on this list. The skull has some odd stylistic choices that aren't accurate and the hand claws are much too small. Megaraptid hand claws are massive. And a mistake that many paleoartist also make is that they just look at the bony claws. When in life, the keratin would have extended the length considerably. Around 30% more length in some cases.
Styxosaurus is cool. But it's VERY speculative. It's not impossible that it might have display structures like that. But I dunno how likely that would be.
The feathered T. rex is really cool. And it seems likely that it would have had some slight fuzziness to it. Funnily enough, the feathers shown here are probably at like the upper end of what would be plausible for T. rex. Other than that, it's still the JP T. rex underneath. Which is a fantastic design. Mostly fairly accurate. But with some obvious stylistic choices. And, it should probably have lips to cover the teeth.
Quetzalcoatlus is rather good. But it's much, too big and some of the proportions are off.
Coelophysis is pretty good. But the real animal would probably have been feathered a bit. Other fairly basal theropods like Dilophosaurus hve been found to most likely have a fair bit of feather covering. So it seems unlikely that Coelophysis would have been entirely bald.
Speaking of Dilophosaurus, Cryolophosaurus is a close relative of it. And it would also likely have had some feathering.
Suchomimus is definitely the most accurate spinosaurid in the game. It's quite good too. There's some minor proportional issues. And the skull still seems to follow the old reconstruction. The real skull would have been a little more robust in the back. For spinosaurids it's not entirely clear if they would have feathers. We know of fairly extensive scales in Allosauroids and Abelisaurids. So it's not unreasonable that spinosaurids might have been mostly, or entirely scaly. Like other theropods tho, it would likely have had lips to cover the teeth. And the hand claws are also too small.
Overall, this is a really good selection with a bunch of designs that are really accurate. There's some other designs that are quite good as well. Some that spring to mind are: Albertosaurus, Attenborosaurus, Geosternbergia, Ceratosaurus, JP3 Brachiosaurus, Frontier Giganotosaurus, Frontier Iguanodon, Euoplocephalus, Dsungaripterus, Corythosaurus, JWD Parasaurolophus
Some of them have minor proportional issues or lack feathers when they should. But overall they're quite accurate.
@LordTrilobite thanks for that really good info. That is a really detailed analysis. What do you think of the JWE2 Styracosaurus? Also, if anyone wants a channel for recommendation for this type of topic, I always like to watch Skeleton Crew on YouTube.
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Just an fyi the dunk was likely already under development when the poet came out so realistically the dunk is 100% accurate other than the size the nailed it yet the paper came out after so yeah
I do not know if this is the right thread for a question, is Tarbosaurus supposed to be as tall as the iconic T-Rex?
I heard rumors that Tarbosaurus is T-Rex's Mongolian counterpart; furthermore, the Tarbosaurus in Camp Cretaceous: Hidden Adventure is shown to be just as tall as the T-Rex especially when those two fighting.
I heard rumors that Tarbosaurus is T-Rex's Mongolian counterpart; furthermore, the Tarbosaurus in Camp Cretaceous: Hidden Adventure is shown to be just as tall as the T-Rex especially when those two fighting.
@Paleoguy Thank you. If Tarbosaurus is depicted to be larger than Albertosaurus and Qianzhousaurus, it is best to keep its cohabitation preference as it should be.
@VSSEMike Tarbo in time might have evolved into T-rex.
I find Ceratosaurus in Jurassic World: Evolution 1 & 2 to be oversized, and I am not sure about Albertosaurus. In Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis, Albertosaurus is depicted to be medium-sized and cannot swallow a goat whole.
@Paleoguy Regarding Spinosaurus, here is how it goes: As revealed in the documentary Monsters Resurrected, the Spinosaurus was thought to be a large carnivore since its first fossil discovery in Bahariya Formation in Egypt. In both the film Jurassic Park III and the game Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis, the Spinosaurus is portrayed as such. Later fossil discoveries in Kem Kem Beds in Morocco, Spinosaurus is revealed to be a semi-aquatic piscivore.
Like most of the ceratopsians in the game, the feet aren't entirely accurate. Though the feet of Styracosaurus here are better than some of the other ceratopsians that basically have elephant feet. On the whole, this is quite an accurate design.
While it's certainly possible they were already working on it. And I remember the devs saying in the live stream that they chose the long retro look over the newer short look.
IRL Tarbosaurus bataar was slightly smaller than Tyrannosaurus rex. It's also slightly less chonky and heavily built compared to T. rex. The skull is also a bit more slender. The CC Tarbosaurus is sadly about as inaccurate as it can be while still being recognizable as a tyrannosaurid. Zuchengtyrannus on the other hand, seems to have been roughly as big as Tyrannosaurus though.
Yes, the JWE Ceratosaurus is oversized. But then, most of the animals are in the game. If you look at just the design. It's rather good. The Albertosaurus only has two main issues imo. It looks like it's modeled on Albertosaurus's cousin Gorgosaurus. Though some consider Gorgosaurus libratus to just be another species of Albertosaurus. So it's no big deal.
The other is that Albertosaurus should probably have some slight feathering. Kinda like the feathered T. rex in the game. Or perhaps a little less than that. But overall, the proportions are really good. The brow crests are a little bit speculative. But very plausible.
Also, it's not impossible the spinosaurid fossils from the Kem Kem beds in Morocco are not Spinosaurus, but a close relative. We don't have enough overlapping material to know for sure. The only place we know Spinosaurus lived for sure, is Egypt. And while it's highly likely that Spinosaurus and its relatives ate a lot of fish. It's likely they also still ate a lot of other stuff, including dinosaurs. Its relative Baryonyx was found to have Iguanodontid remains in its stomach.
" It's that time again! Another DLC, another late-night recording and frantic rush to meet a tight deadline - but we couldn't be happier to have to spend some time with these new theropod dinosaurs right away! This week, Frontier Developments released the Cretaceous Predator Pack, a DLC focused on some of the coolest theropod dinosaurs that lived in the Cretaceous Period, at the Mesozoic (the Age of Dinosaurs). We have Concavenator, a bizarre humped relative of Allosaurus, Giganotosaurus, and Carcharodontosaurus from the Early Cretaceous of Cuenca, Spain, which was discovered at the rich Las Hoyas fossil locality. Following Concavenator, we take a look at the Tarbosaurus design from Camp Cretaceous, and weigh in on the debate raging on Paleontology Twitter these days - how do you properly design a Tarbosaurus to both have its own identity, and look very much like its more famous cousin Tyrannosaurus rex? Tarbosaurus and T. rex are both giant apex predators from the Maastrichtian stage of the Late Cretaceous, when they terrorized all smaller dinosaurs in Mongolia and North America. We stay in Asia to look at Gigantoraptor, a bizarre, upsetting, and altogether too-big oviraptorosaur from the Middle Cretaceous of China, found at a location known as Iren Dabasu. But wait, there's more! Not just the last creature in the pack, but giant eggs known from all across the Northern Hemisphere that shows that Gigantoraptor wasn't one-of-a-kind, but a member of a phantom group of giant murder turkeys that have managed to escape discovery in the fossil record. And finally, the standout of the pack - Utahraptor. This is often called the "true Jurassic Park Velociraptor", but as we said in our first video, that honor really goes to Deinonychus. But Utahraptor is a special beast of its own. It's a truly enormous dromaeosaurid (or raptor) dinosaur, from very early in the Cretaceous, but it remains poorly understood - the holotype fossil is very incomplete, and the newer material is yet to be studied and published on. But we think this design is amazing, paleoart-tier, and really brings this animal to life in stunning detail. For a dinosaur that almost got named after Steven Spielberg, we think it deserves nothing less. We also re-rank Pteranodon, Stegosaurus, and Brachiosaurus to account for the new alt-skins. Hell of an episode today folks - please thank Scott in the comments for heroically getting this video out for today! Image Credits: Gigantoraptor erlianensis skeletal by Ivan Iofrida CC BY SA 4.0 Birdwing by L. Shyamal CC BY SA 2.5"
JP Ceratosaurus... accurate? ...what?
